At the present time, procedures for resurfacing streets with a coating of asphalt usually require that the worn down old surface on the street be scraped over to roughen it and remove the loose material thereon. A new coating of asphalt is then laid down over the entire surface of the street to a level of one or more inches above the old surface.
There is a problem in the resurfacing of the street in that the stripings of paint that define the center and lanes on the street and the maintenance covers that are mounted flush with the surface of the worn down street are covered over by the new coating of asphalt. Thus, in order to determine the exact location of where the stripings should be repainted on the surface of the new coating of asphalt, it has been the practice to use three crewmen, one holding the ends of a line at each curb and one holding the line at the center of the street or at the lane divisions thereof to mark the exact locations of the center and lane stripings on the new surface. These marks are usually spaced from each other along the street by as much as 200 feet. In order to determine the exact locations of the maintenance covers that are located on the worn down street, prior to laying down the new coating of asphalt thereon, it has been the practice for contractors, utility companies and municipal agencies to send out crewmen to provide a mark on the curb of the street opposite each of the maintenance covers. The crewmen then further measure the distance that each maintenance cover is located from the curb and place this information adjacent each of the marks on the curb. Then, after the street has been resurfaced with a new coating of asphalt, the crewmen must return to again measure the distance from each mark on the curb and place a spot of paint on the resurfaced street which corresponds to the location of each of the maintenance covers now embedded below the new coating of asphalt. The asphalt coating above each of the maintenance covers is then removed by crewmen using a shovel or a pick ax, depending on whether the fresh asphalt has had time to harden. Each of the maintenance covers is then lifted out of its opening and an expandable cylindrical spacer which is held in a cylindrical opening in the base of the street and serves to support the maintenance cover is then adjusted so that when the maintenance cover is placed back down over its opening it will be seated at a level that is flush with the surface of the new coating of asphalt on the street.
The present procedures, as described above, for determining the locations of the stripings of paint and the maintenance covers on a resurfaced street are not only hazardous because of the need for crewmen to make measurements on the street when traffic is present, but they are time consuming and subject to inaccuracies which cause further delays in carrying them out. Still further, because of the expense and labor involved in the procedures, the responsibility for the work is often disputed and disregarded, resulting in the maintenance covers being sometimes left permanently covered over by the new coating of asphalt until an emergency arises which requires access to the controls beneath them.